Mrs. Patience Gyasi explains how to use the secure pill to a client.
Mrs. Patience Gyasi is a licensed chemical seller at the LA Dadekotopon District, in the Greater Accra Region. For the past 25 years, she has devoted her life to providing health care, including family planning services to her community.
She noted that education on family planning is inadequate. “Sometimes you talk to people [about] the benefits of family planning and they quote bible verses claiming they are to give birth to as many [grains] of sand [in the] sea.”
Gyasi believes the media could contribute to raising awareness on family planning by reporting more frequently on family planning issues. According to her, “If the media is also able to join the advocacy [efforts] on family planning, it will help make our [job] easier when we reach out to people to educate them on family planning and other sensitive health issues.”
She is proud of her work and is always treated with trust and respect becasue people look to Gyasi for their health needs. She recognizes confidentiality as a core value in her work, and as such makes sure she doesn’t disclose clients’ information to others.
However, there are challenges. As Gyasi explains, “People here know me very well. Because of the kind of relationship I have with them, some normally come for drugs without paying for them.”
As a health worker she follows the same health and safety measures to manage her own family. “Because I always educate others, I take it as a challenge and a responsibility for myself as well.”
With additional funding provided by a grant awarded under Advancing Partners & Communities (APC), (HealthKeepers Network) HKN plans to expand their community-based family planning (CBFP) project. The CBFP project aims to reduce the gap between the demand and the supply of HIV prevention and family planning (FP) products. The program provides access to affordable contraception, including condoms and oral contraceptives, as well as other products and services.
